De Tomaso Isis 

Constructor:	De Tomaso
Class:	Race Car
Year:	1959 to 1963
Chassis:	tubular frame
Seats	single
Engine	Rear four-cylinder

The De Tomaso Isis was the first race car of the Italian car manufacturer De Tomaso .

History

Alessandro de Tomaso is an Argentinian who came to Europe to race sports Maserati’s and Oscas in the mid-fifties and settled in Italy after his marriage. The first car of his own creation was the Isis, a Cooper-based Formula Junior car, and he subsequently constructed a few cars for the then current 1500 cc Formula Two with Osca and Alfa Romeo engines.

The car was built in small series for the Formula Junior and formed the basis for some more De Tomaso vehicles.

The from Argentina coming racer and businessman Alejandro de Tomaso denied one race Formula in December 1959 his last. For the US Grand Prix, a Cooper T43, which he had equipped with an OSCA engine. In the same year he founded the Italian Modena an automobile workshop in which he produced racing cars for different classes (and from 1965 also sports cars). The first vehicle of the new brand was called Isis.  The name was a tribute to de Tomaso's wife Isabell de Tomaso (born Haskell), who financed her husband's racing projects with their fortune.

The Isis had a tubular frame. All wheels were hung individually. The body was at Fantuzzi. The drive initially used a built-in behind the driver's seat, 1.1 litre in-line four-cylinder engine from the Fiat 1100, the initially of Aquilino Branca was later tuned and OSCA. published in 1963, two newly built vehicles with one of Holbay tuned Ford were equipped -Motor. They were more stable than the Fiat four-cylinder and made sure that the Isis reached some finishings. On the basis of Isis Alberto Massimino Formula 2 racing car developed F2 and F1 model F1, originated from the total of five to 1963 copies. Even the F1, which was designed for different engines, was successful only with the Holbay engine.

The production volume is not exactly documented but a total of around six vehicles were built. The first car was built in 1959, the last in winter 1962/63. Three cars remained in Italy, where they were used, inter alia, by the Scuderia De Tomaso at individual Italian races; moreover, at least one was sold to the USA.

In 1960, only one race of an Isis is recorded. Isabell de Tomaso drove the car on October 23, 1960 at the Coppa d'Oro di Sicilia on the Circuit di Siracusa in Syracuse. This returned 10 of 30 laps before failing. 

At the beginning of 1961, Giovanni Alberti reported an Isis to several Formula Junior races in Italy. The messages were mostly under their own name, but partly also for the Scuderia Madunina. It is not certain that he actually took part in the race with the car. Placements are not noted. But it is certain that he missed qualifying at the Lotteria Monza in Isis. 1962 drove different pilots with the Isis. Giovanni Alberti, Gastone Zanarotti, Nasif Estéfano and a driver with the pseudonym "Lucky" were each announced at one or more Formula Junior races in Italy; Finish arrivals of these drivers, however, are not occupied. "Lucky" missed at least once the qualification and fell again for technical reasons, also Estéfano did not finish. Only at the last Italian race of 1962, the Trofeo d'Autunno in Vallelunga, the Isis was successful: Franco Bernabei was third, 30 seconds behind the winner in the overall standings. 

In 1963, Franco Bernabei drove a revamped Isis equipped with a Ford Holbay engine. At the Trofeo Bruno e Fofi Vigorelli in Monza he was ninth with this car. Roberto Bussinello finished second in a parallel race with a comparable car and set the fastest race lap. More Isis Ford drivers were in this year Franco Bernabei, Vincenzo Zannini (eleventh in the Lake Garda Tour), a pilot with the pseudonym "Miro Gay", the Trofeo Luigi Musso at Vallelunga in third place finished, and Giosue Butti.